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Carl Auer von Welsbach: Chemist, Inventor, Entrepreneur

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science ((BRIESFHISTCHEM))

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Abstract

Through his tireless, purpose-driven efforts and his mother’s unremitting confidence, Auer’s period of difficulties and failure was blessedly short. What followed, however, were two years of uninterrupted, feverish research to improve the incandescent mantle.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Auer-Welsbach [1].

  2. 2.

    Daughter of Alois Nimpfer and Marie (née Broβmann) Nimpfer.

  3. 3.

    Dahlmann [2].

  4. 4.

    Genealogisches Taschenbuch der adeligen Häuser Österreichs [3].

  5. 5.

    Alois Auer von Welsbach was 36 at the time of his marriage; Carl was 40.

  6. 6.

    Adunka [4].

  7. 7.

    Shavinina [5].

  8. 8.

    Benjamin [6].

  9. 9.

    Grove [7].

  10. 10.

    See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb (last accessed 15 January 2018) for an account of the evolution of the incandescent light bulb.

  11. 11.

    Sedlacek [8].

  12. 12.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_G%C3%B6bel (last accessed 15 January 2018).

  13. 13.

    Auer von Welsbach [9].

  14. 14.

    Auer consistently invested his entire body in the chemical enterprise regardless of health consequences. Fully aware of the dangers of working with highly toxic osmium, which is why no one had considered a technical use for this element at the time, he did not shrink from exposing himself to physical harm in order to gain new knowledge.

  15. 15.

    Auer von Welsbach [10].

  16. 16.

    U.S. Patent, Welsbach Light Company, 27 July 1898.

  17. 17.

    Baumgartner [11].

  18. 18.

    Auer von Welsbach [12].

  19. 19.

    Howell [13].

  20. 20.

    Letter of 28 September 1900.

  21. 21.

    The name was coined by an Auer co-worker, Fritz Blau (1865–1929).

  22. 22.

    1.8E-7%; tungsten is a thousand times more abundant.

  23. 23.

    Lambert [14].

  24. 24.

    Book 1, line 174; Book 6, line 1.

  25. 25.

    Book 1, line 135.

  26. 26.

    http://museumofeverydaylife.org/exhibitions-collections/current-exhibitions/history-of-the-match (last accessed 15 January 2018).

  27. 27.

    Tansjö [15].

  28. 28.

    Ostwald [16].

  29. 29.

    Sedlacek [17].

  30. 30.

    Hirsch [18].

  31. 31.

    Auer von Welsbach [19].

  32. 32.

    Angelo and Subramanian [20].

  33. 33.

    Ferrocerium and the other pyrophoric alloys [21].

  34. 34.

    http://www.rccm.co.jp/factsage/gedb/ce-elem/cefe/cefe.html (last accessed 15 January 2018).

  35. 35.

    A term used for a mixture of rare earth metals.

  36. 36.

    Gamber [22].

  37. 37.

    Fattinger [23].

  38. 38.

    Sedlacek [24].

  39. 39.

    Adunka [25].

  40. 40.

    Baumgartner [26].

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Auer von Welsbach-Museum, Althofen, Kärnten, Austria

    Roland Adunka

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, USA

    Mary Virginia Orna

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  1. Roland Adunka
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  2. Mary Virginia Orna
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Correspondence to Roland Adunka .

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Adunka, R., Orna, M.V. (2018). New Perspectives. In: Carl Auer von Welsbach: Chemist, Inventor, Entrepreneur. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77905-8_6

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